Affiliate is Twitch's first money tier: subscriptions, Bits and ads switch on once a channel clears four bars in the same rolling 30 days: 50 followers, 500 minutes streamed, 7 different streaming days, and an average of 3 concurrent viewers.
Three of the bars are accumulation: followers add up, minutes add up, streaming days add up. The fourth is the filter.
An AVERAGE of 3 concurrent viewers across 30 days punishes every empty hour streamed. Channels routinely sit at 49-of-50 on the easy bars while the average refuses to move. It's the bar that measures whether anyone actually shows up.
Affiliate unlocks subs (with Prime subs included), Bits and ad revenue, with Twitch taking its share. Progress is tracked live on the achievements page, and the invitation arrives automatically when all four bars hold at once.
Above it sits Partner: same instrument, better terms, gated on the same metrics at scale (the reference path asks for a 75-viewer average). The metric that got you in remains the one that moves you up.
In the same 30 days: 50 followers, 500 total minutes streamed, 7 unique broadcast days, and a 3+ average of concurrent viewers. All four at once.
A revenue share on subs, Bits and ads. Income tracks the community's liveliness far more than raw follower count: sub culture and regulars are the earners.
Twitch can remove it for long inactivity or policy breaches, but there's no rolling maintenance meter like YouTube's. The bigger risk is the same as everyone's: an audience that stops showing up.
Related terms
Every definition lives in the full glossary, and the services behind the vocabulary are on the services page.